Tag: Inle Lake

The Boat Tour is the thing at Inle Lake – and there are plenty of captains ready to broker a deal. Taking advice we decided on an early start, and an itinerary which began with the market for the day. As the guide books will tell you, Inle Lake has a 5 day market where the location rotates between villages. On the day we went it was Inthein, a longer boat journey of about 45mins to an hour. We left at 7.30am so were amongst the first at the market, after a lovely (and chilly) ride across the lake.

Motoring through the canal to IntheinFive boats deep at the Floating Pagoda jettyRestaurant view

By the time we left two hours later, the place was teeming with tourists. The food market was excellent, and much less touristy than any we’ve seen. The adjoining tourist market had some lovely textiles, clothing, jewellery and trinkets, with keen but not aggressive sellers. We spent an hour at the market and an hour checking out Nyaung Ohak (pagoda ruins) and the Shwe Inn Thein Paya. Both were really picturesque and we could easily have spent longer in Inthein.

The rest of the day included visits to various craft workshops, the floating pagoda, and lunch on the lake. And we saw the foot-rowing fishermen of Inle Lake – real and those from central casting.

Due to a shaky Internet there has been no blogging of late – but hopefully now service has resumed. Back in Nyaungu Shwe we hired bikes – on the first day, some old rattlers which were fine for getting around town for the total princely sum of around A$2 for both. Our second day had us checking out something built for a longer journey. For around $15 from MMK we hired 2 mountain bikes, 2 helmets, a lock, 2 bottles of water, a map showing various routes and some advice on the best one ( a round trip including a boating section).

Getting from Bago to Nyaung Shwe (the main town for accessing Inle Lake, unless you want to pay big $$$ for a resort on the lake itself) was relatively easy. Taxi to Yangon $US35, flight to HeHo airport, taxi to Nyauang Shwe (25,000 kyat) plus US$10 for an Inle Zone entrance fee. We arrived at Zawgi Inn, settled in, then went for a look around town. We happened upon Ginki bar and restaurant, and had a good night drinking some local beer, enjoying dinner and listening to the live entertainment. ( We had asked the waiter what kind of music would be played – his response ‘ Foreign’. Which it was.) There was also the cutest pup hanging about…

Yandana Man Aung Paya in the afternoon lightEarly in the night at GinkiTrust me, I’m too cute to have rabies